Are You Free

Greetings!!!

Did you do anything special on the Forth of July to celebrate your freedom? Our family went to see the fireworks display set off by Beaver Stadium at Penn State University. It made me think of all the battles fought, all the blood spilled, and all the lives lost to win my freedom. Have you ever thought about what it cost for you to be free? It was a high price.

Do you know that there is another kind of freedom? This freedom was even more costly. Here is what Romans 6:16-23 says: "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one who you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Have you been set free? How do you celebrate your freedom? If you have been set free from your past, you must choose to become a slave to the One who paid the price for your freedom - Jesus Christ. You see, when you have been set free, you become free to serve the One who can give your life meaning and purpose, and fill you with love, joy, and peace, and give you a future and a hope. It is worth giving up all that has you bound and keeps you from Him.

The LORD bless you with choosing to be His servant.

I love you,

Ruth

All Consuming Fire

Greetings!!!

Have you ever sung these words and meant them? "All Consuming Fire, Your my heart's desire, and I love You dearly, dearly Lord." When you think of that All-Consuming Fire, what comes to your mind? Is it a flickering flame like a candle? Perhaps a campfire or bonfire is more like the fire that comes to you mind. Or perhaps, just maybe, something like this Alaska wild fire is more like the image inside your head and heart. As I thought about God's all-consuming fire in church on Sunday, God spoke these words to my heart, "My fire is not one that can be controlled. It is bigger than even the largest wild fire that has been on the Earth. It cannot be controlled by man."

(Picture taken from http://tiee.ecoed.net/vol/v3/issues/frontier_sets.yellowstone/img/forest_fire%5BHR%5D.jpg)

There are two accounts of God and fire that immediately come to mind. The first is Exodus 3:1-4. "Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, "I must turn aside now, and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, " Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."

The second passage is Exodus 20:18-20. "And all the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen, but let not God speak to us, lest we die." And Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin."

When you consider God's all-consuming fire, what will you do? Will you shrink back in fear like the Israelites, or will you, like Moses, press in and get as close as you can to it so that God can have His way with your life? It is God's desire that you draw near and press in, never forgetting that this fire is not a fire that you can control. You must allow God to consume everything that needs to be consumed in your life. You must give Him free reign. You will not regret it.

The LORD bless you with willingly stepping into His fire.

I love you,

Ruth